Walking With Christ

⚓ Floatie:  The Mirror and the Throne

Hebrews 12:1–2  (1)Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, (2)looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.(ESV)

Everything we’ve walked through in this first part of the series rests inside these two verses.  The Christian life is not theory.  It is not abstraction.  It is sweat, surrender, clarity, resistance, obedience, and joy.  It is the long race toward the throne, with Christ as both the path and the destination.

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✒️ Forge:  The Thread We’ve Been Weaving

This first section of the Practical Christianity series has been one long conversation about reality — not the church-shaped version, not the cultural caricature of faith, but the actual road Jesus calls us to walk.

We started with faith, the bedrock of every other step.

Hebrews 11:6  And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.(ESV)

Faith is not optimism.  It is obedience.  It is trust proven in motion.

Then we moved to love — not the hollow feeling the world sells, but the cruciform action God commands.

John 13:34–35  (34)A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another:  just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.  (35)By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.(ESV)

Love is not preference.  It is sacrifice.

From there we worked through patience and endurance — the part that breaks most believers because it feels like weakness.

James 1:3–4  (3)for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.  (4)And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.(ESV)

Survival is instinct.  Endurance is discipleship.

We faced temptation head-on — not the Hollywood version, but the simple truth that your desires try to pull the reins of your life.

1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man.  God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.(ESV)

Temptation reveals what you want.  Escape reveals who you follow.

Then we tackled the fruit of the Spirit, the quiet measure of the inner life.

Galatians 5:22–23  (22)But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, (23)gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.(ESV)

Fruit is the visible proof that the internal work is real.

And finally, hope — not wishful thinking, but certainty made of steel.

Romans 5:3–5 (3)Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, (4)and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, (5)and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.(ESV)

Hope is the anchor that never breaks, even when everything else does.  Together, these threads have formed a single question:  Are you becoming more like Christ, or only more informed about Him?

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⚒️ Anvil:  The Mirror We Must Face

This is where the recap becomes a reckoning — not a condemnation, but a moment of truth.  Paul writes:

2 Corinthians 13:5  Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith.  Test yourselves.  Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!(ESV)

So test yourself:

• Has faith changed your decisions, or only your vocabulary?
• Has love cost you anything yet?
• Are you enduring or just surviving?
• Does your battle with temptation reveal progress or denial?
• Is there fruit in your life that others can actually see?
• Is your hope strong enough to withstand a season of silence?

Ask the Holy Spirit to expose what you’ve ignored.  Ask Him to strengthen what He’s already begun.

This isn’t shame.  This is alignment.

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🔥 Ember:  The Prayer of the Honest Disciple

If you pray one thing at the end of this first section, let it be this:  “Lord, make me real.”

Strip away the counterfeit.  Burn away the apathy.  Expose the rot and restore the strength.  Give me endurance that doesn’t break, love that doesn’t bend, faith that walks, fruit that lasts, hope that refuses to die.  Make me someone who doesn’t just know You — make me someone who resembles You.

Every great work of God in Scripture began with a simple posture:  “Here I am.”

So stand—spiritually—at the foot of the throne and say it.  Say it with joy, not fear.  Say it knowing that you are not approaching a Judge eager to condemn, but a King eager to transform.

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🌿 Covenant Triumph:  The Road Ahead

This closes the first movement of Practical Christianity.  The next step is harder — and more necessary.

Now we turn outward.  Now we walk into the modern world with Scripture as our lens instead of our decoration.
Now we tackle the topics everyone avoids:

• culture
• ethics
• relationships
• technology
• power
• truth
• deception
• identity
• the shape of a Christian life in a world that has forgotten what humans are for

Most churches dodge these conversations because the answers require conviction, clarity, and courage.  But Scripture is not silent on modern things.  It never was.

If part one taught us how to live, part two will teach us how to stand. And we stand only by looking to the throne — the same place we began, the same place we end, the same place every faithful road leads.

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[⚓ Floatie] [✒️ Forge] [⚒️ Anvil] [🔥 Ember] [🌿 Covenant Triumph]
This post follows the Forge Baseline Rule—layered truth for the discerning remnant.